Interviewing the Impromptu Illustration Winners

A couple weeks ago, SCAD HoneyDripper co-hosted an event alongside SCAD Illustration Society where we were joined by a talented group of various students who agreed to partake in an impromptu drawing challenge. Artists had one hour to create a piece of any medium connected to a word given at the beginning of the start time, and in honor of the holidays, that word was ‘tradition’. There was an incredible amount of talent and pieces that ranged from beautiful, adorable, emotional, to just plain fun. As one of the judges, it was tough to pick the winners! In the end I, and about three other officers from both groups got together and settled on who we decided made best use of the theme and their materials.

Our top three victors were Elsie Sterling, Charlize Williams, and DaHye Lee, with the grand first-place title going to Evanne Whitman for creating a wonderfully thought-provoking depiction of a mother hen with her chick:

When asked about the piece, Whitman said, “Given the prompt of tradition, my first association was with holiday traditions. However, I didn’t want to stick with one central holiday, so I thought of the thing that unifies them all: Love!”

“The tradition of love has persisted for thousands and even millions of years through nature. I thought of how the modern-day chicken evolved from dinosaurs, and I wondered if their ways of caring for their babies were similar and remembered instinctually.”

I then asked if she could go more into detail about the technicalities of the drawing process; ” I wanted this piece to have a sense of warmth and nostalgia, so I used a primary color palette with an emphasis on the contrast between blue and yellow. The glow of memories from generations past shines on the fond feelings between the hen and the chick, keeping them warm in the winter snow. I also used a loose approach to my linework and coloring to further contribute to the relaxed nature of the drawing”.

One of my favorite parts of the competition was how far some artists went with the story aspect of it. For example, Elsie Sterling did not only create a beautifully crafted mixed medium composition, but I was also so moved by her artist statement that it gave me chills; “My piece is about family traditions and crafts being passed down to the younger generation.”

“My Nana was an amazing quilter, winning many awards from her local quilting guild. She made so many. She often gave them away as gifts. My mom remembers how my Nana had a way of looking at the colors and patterns of fabrics and could imagine in her head what quilt she would make. I like to think that I inherited some of her artistic skills, but unfortunately, she never taught me the craft of quilting. That skill passed on with her. This piece is a ‘what could’ve been’ of passing on the love of quilting as well as a tribute to my Nana.”

Likewise to Whitman, I then asked her to talk about the craftsmanship behind it; “I tried to use size and repetition to help depict the story. I wanted the quilt to take up most of the lower half of the piece and also show the two hearts on the women’s shirts, tying both generations together through the connection of tradition and craft.” 

Charlize Williams also drew from personal experiences, creating an uplifting, colorful composition depicting a favorite festival; “My First thought was Festa Junina which is a Brazilian Festival celebrating the end of the rainy season and giving thanks to Saint Peter, Saint Anthony, and Saint John.” 

I was particularly in love with Williams’ composition for how alive it feels. You wish you could just jump in and enjoy the fun alongside all the depicted characters! We asked for more on the backstory and process and this is what she had to say; “This piece is inspired by the festival I attended and participated in when I lived in Brazil. I love watching the dances and performing them. I wanted to capture a fun and playful atmosphere. I used lots of bright colors to draw the viewer’s attention and create a sense of movement in the piece. My goal for this piece was to capture a memory of my childhood and share a tradition from my culture I hold dear.” 

Last but certainly not least, the judges and I were absolutely encapsulated by the well-crafted, graceful, digital painting DaHye Lee made. I especially enjoyed this for the thick brush textures it has that really compliments the pastel palette that captures such an elegant and charming motion. “This illustration captures a Korean fan dancer, or Buchaechum, gracefully moving amidst cherry blossom petals. “Buchae” means “fan,” and “chum” is “dance”. 

Lee went on to talk to us about how she intended to shed light on an art form that isn’t as talked about in the media;  “When given the theme “Tradition,” I initially sketched concepts about Christmas, but soon felt inspired to showcase something unique. While K-dramas, K-pop, and Korean cuisine are widely recognized, the beauty of traditional Korean fan dance remains less known. Although it doesn’t need to be popularized, I thought introducing it here could offer a fresh perspective.” 

I was very grateful that Lee had also shared with us some of photographs of the dancers she referenced when beginning her work, and she explained more of the behind-the-scenes process on both this and how she approached the composition; “I focused on creating contrast between colors and textures to ensure the pastel colors remain distinct, allowing the viewer’s eye to flow naturally from the top of the fan down to the dancer’s skirt, capturing the dance’s movement. There is also a sense of rhythm in the repeated floral shapes and colors, accompanied by the petals in the air.” 

The SCAD HoneyDripper hasn’t done an event like this in the four years I’ve been a part of this club, but I truly hope it gets carried on for years to come as our own sense of ‘tradition’. It was a ton of fun talking about our blog, listening to all the different individual stories people came up with, and overall getting together to talk about holiday traditions with such a unique group of people. If you have any interest in illustration, I seriously recommend you attend the SCAD Illustration Society meetings as they are a wonderful group of people with such diverse abilities in skills and heritage. And please enjoy the works of the artists above! 

The HoneyDripper is the Savannah College of Art and Design’s juried comics and illustration blog, dedicated to publishing, promoting, and showcasing the finest in student work.​